Meditation for my scenario?

Ive been wanting to meditate for a while now, but Ive never actually gotten around to it. Sometimes I will try a few nights in a row, but its a really failed attempt.

The reason Ive been wanting to do meditation is because of a few things. I have OCD (the kind where I obsess about thoughts, recently i think its manifested itself in constant chattering or music playing in my head). Also, lately Ive become somewhat depressed and have had negative thoughts.

These things are things that Ive just dealed with, and they come and go throughout my life, but it is beginning to really interupt my study of music. Music is my life right now, and I find myself unable to conjure up the focus, or the creativity to create anything. I know that this is a mental block.

Would meditation aide me in this? I want to dedicate my life to music, and its become very difficult as I become less and less focused.

Yes, meditation can help, but you shouldn't expect a magic bullet. It's not just a case of meditation and Zap! everything will be ok. The benefits of meditation come from continued practice and regular practice will give more noticable benefits in your daily life.

How are you practicing meditation? Have you downloaded Michaels free "Discover Meditation CD's"? Also, when are you practicing? Sometimes it can be harder to meditate in the evening as our body is naturally tired from the day of activity and we often fall asleep or we're too irritated and find letting the day go difficult.

Bear in mind that each meditation experience is different, so even though you may feel that you've failed, I'm sure you haven't and I know that further meditation experiences will be experienced differently. If you do get a feeling that it's not right or that it's failed, just let that feeling go and continue practicing.

Last night, (before I read your post) I tried to do a breathing meditation. I followed what I read about it, and basically sat straight, breathed in and out, and focused on its flow through my body. As I was doing this, about 10 minutes later I became extrememly nauseous, and basically it felt as though I was entering sleep paralysis. (eyes darting around, twitching, bright colors). I had to stop because I was feeling naseous from it. What went wrong? I know it was late at night (which would explain my sleep paralysis like symptoms), but I didnt think I was that tired...

If you're new to meditation, starting with 5 or 10 minutes should be plenty and then with experience you can build this up to 15, 20, 30 or 40 minutes as you practice more and more.

There are times when we can experience different sensations during meditation. These can be anything from seeing things, hearing things or feeling things. e.g. you may feel lots of pressure in the head, pains in the arms or legs or, as in your case, nausea. Some common advise is to recognise the sensation, accept it and continue with the meditation, ensuring that you give yourself a couple of minutes at the end of the meditation to "re-ground" yourself and come back to the real world.

You could also consider the type of meditation you are doing. The downloadable meditation from Michael is a mantra based meditation which is fairly easy to follow and practice.
There are of course other forms of meditation such a breathing meditation, microcosmic orbit meditation, guided meditation etc. With these other forms, it can sometimes be easy to focus too hard and this focusing can sometimes be strenuous. For example, it is quite common for people new to meditation to close their eyes and make their eyeballs move upwards as if looking into the forehead as if this will help them maintain some meditative or trance like state; however this is more likely to put a strain on the eye muscles and make the practice uncomfortable. Likewise, focusing on the breath can make you want to control the breathing and this can cause the oxygen levels in the body to become too much (giving a light headed sensation) or too little (giving a tired sensation and causing you to yawn). The idea of a breathing meditation is not to control the breath, but to let the body breath naturally and just let the awareness of the mind follow the breath, whether it goes slowly, fast, light or deep, whether it is consistent or changes regularly etc. This can sometimes be difficult for new meditators (or even experienced meditators) to achieve. With mantra based meditation, the initial focus is on the mantra, without any need to focus on the physical nature of the body in any way, hence why it can be easier to achieve and less strain on the body.

Thank you for the tips, its good to know that I didnt mess something up. Im downloading the lessons now. One other thing that I find interesting now that I read that, is that sometimes when I meditate, my body will slowly swing in a circle, going faster and faster. I remember when that happened, I came out of it feeling like it was a new day (literally, everything felt fresh, it felt like I just woke up) Im so excited to practice some more. Thank you.

Ive definetly found it to help with my music, I find it has helped to quiten my critical thoughts when I'm writing so the creative processes flows better and is more focused. What kind of music do you make?